New $460 mln expressway to run from HCMC to Cambodia border

Cars on an expressway in southern Vietnam. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Diep

A proposed $460 mln expressway will run from HCMC to the Moc Bai border gate in Tay Ninh Province.

The Directorate for Roads of Vietnam has submitted a pre-feasibility study on the proposed 53.3 km long expressway to the Ministry of Transport.

According to the study, construction of the highway would take place under the form of a public-private partnership. It would be done in two phases and cost around VND10.7 trillion ($459.36 million).

The road will run from Ring Road 3 (Hoc Mon District, HCMC) to Moc Bai, an international border gate between Vietnam and Cambodia in the southern Tay Ninh Province.

The first phase will involve construction of two separate sections of highway. The first will be a 33km section from HCMC to Trang Bang, a district in Tay Ninh Province, which will have four lanes and a design speed of 120km per hour. The second section from Trang Bang to Moc Bai, 20.5km long, will also have four lanes with a design speed of 80km per hour.

After the two sections are completed, the second phase of construction will expand expressway to 6-8 lanes.

The People's Committees of Ho Chi Minh City and Tay Ninh Province will request the Ministry of Transport to seek the Prime Minister’s permission to implement the project.

Both localities have said that they would pay the project’s land clearance compensation from their own budgets. This would entail HCMC and Tay Ninh paying VND2 trillion ($85.87 million) and VND1 trillion ($42.94 million) respectively.

The remaining VND8 trillion ($343.48 million) in construction costs will be covered by private investors who will be selected in a bidding process or appointed by the government.

Currently, the only road connecting HCMC and Tay Ninh Province is National Highway 22, which is overloaded.

The ministry has said that the proposed high-speed HCMC-Moc Bai expressway will meet the transport demand of the region and fit with the national highway network plan.

In particular, the expressway will shorten the time it takes to travel from HCMC to the international border gate, and strengthen the connection between Vietnam’s key southern economic zone and the East-West economic corridor (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam).

It will also connect to the Asian Highway Network through Cambodia’s Phnom Penh – Bavet high speed expressway.